It sounds blasphemous, considering all that Lopez brings to the table, but it might behoove Kidd to make Lopez the odd man out in certain games where his defensive liabilities exceed his offensive assets.

Prokhorov isn’t putting up all this money just to make the playoffs — he wants a championship, or at least a serious run at it. Kidd, with help from his staff, will have to sort out all these new parts to find the right formula in a hurry.

One night after acquiring Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry from the Celtics in a blockbuster trade, Nets general manager Billy King is interested in signing free-agent center Jason Collins, according to Yahoo! Sports.

The 34-year-old journeyman becomes a free agent on July 1 — meaning that he will first have to sign with an NBA team and wait until next season to see if teammates, coaches, opponents and fans will treat him any differently.